Group Decisions 1

Group Decisions - Peer Pressure
There may have been times when you have been involved in a group, and have 'gone along' with the rest of the group to save hassle, or because you were afraid of appearing to be different or awkward.

This pressure for individuals to conform in groups is known as 'group cohesiveness.'

Group members are reluctant to voice opinions and views which go against the majority viewpoint as they want to be acceptable to other group members and receive praise, recognition and social approval, and avoid punishment by social disapproval.

Asch
Laboratory experiments undertaken by Solomon Asch during the 1950's.

A group of 7 volunteers sat round a table to participate in a study on visual perception. However, only one volunteer was a real subject. The others were paid to take part in the study and told to lie about their perceptions. The task was an easy one - to judge, which of three lines was equal in length to one they had seen earlier. The real subject was the last person to be asked and was put in the position of either having to give the right answer and disagree with the rest of the group or conform to the group judgement.

The results revealed that most subjects conformed to the group judgements, even with strangers who they were unlikely to meet again. Conformity can be even stronger in a work setting with respect to issues, which have more significance.

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